Millions of runners may be unknowingly increasing their risk of injury by cutting corners on sleep. A new study found that runners with poor sleep quality, short sleep duration, or frequent sleep problems were nearly twice as likely to get injured.
If you're one of the 620 million people who regularly go for a run, you probably like to get an early start. But if you haven't slept well the night before, you could be putting yourself at greater risk of injury.
A new study led by Professor Jan de Jonge, a work and sports psychologist at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands (and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia), found that insufficient and poor-quality sleep significantly increases the chance of getting hurt while running.
In a survey of 425 recreational runners, the researchers discovered that participants who reported shorter sleep duration, lower sleep quality, or frequent sleep problems were almost twice as likely to experience an injury compared to those who slept well.
The results, published in Applied Sciences, provide what Prof de Jonge calls “compelling evidence that sleep is a critical yet often overlooked component of injury prevention.”
“While runners specifically focus on mileage, nutrition and recovery strategies, sleep tends to fall to the bottom of the list,” he explains. “Our research shows that poor sleepers were 1.78 times more likely to report injuries than those with stable, good quality sleep, with a 68% likelihood of sustaining an injury over a 12-month period. That’s a strong reminder that how well you rest is just as important as how hard you train.”
